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The 1,400-acre Dorado Beach Resort in Puerto Rico -- once a tropical hideaway favored by President Dwight Eisenhower and Elizabeth Taylor -- is getting a much-needed makeover. On Dec. 12, the doors open on a 100-room, 14-suite Ritz-Carlton Reserve hotel built on the private beach, a 45-minute drive from Old San Juan.

Ritz-Carlton Reserve? It's the new brand extension of Marriott International's luxury division. Rooms start at $1,499 a night: A king bed faces a wall of sliding glass overlooking the guests' own private plunge pool and palm-filled garden, all just a few more paces away from three miles of pristine beach. You can soak in a massive tub, or pass through another glass wall to wash under a private outside shower surrounded by an enclosed Zen-like stone garden. The Reserve's general manager, Alejandro Helbling, rightly notes that the room blurs the line between "outside and inside."

Herve Humler, president of Marriott's Ritz-Carlton division, says the entire purpose of the Reserve brand is "to compete with small boutique hotels." So far only in Puerto Rico and Phulay Bay, Thailand, hotels are planned for Los Cabos, Mexico, and Muscat, Oman. The small Reserve hotels come in at a higher price point than the industrial-size Ritz-Carltons, and will appeal, Humler says, to guests who are "sophisticated and demand authenticity."

The Ritz-Carlton Reserve rooms and suites all have views of Dorado Beach.
Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton

The Ritz property helps to restore a stretch of coast with a distinguished pedigree. Early in the 20th century, Dorado Beach was the 1,400-acre coconut and grapefruit plantation of Clara Livingston, a pioneering pilot who was a close friend of Amelia Earhart's. Laurance S. Rockefeller, the conservationist brother of Nelson and David, acquired the property from her in 1955.

Laurance was also a pioneer -- in eco-tourism. In 1958, he opened Dorado Beach's 125-room Rock Resort, quickly attracting the likes of Ava Gardner and President John F. Kennedy. In between the wild parties and pig roasts, Rockefeller built an open-air sanctuary for guests to walk through the resort; no tree could be cut down without his personal approval. Dorado Beach traded hands a few more times until it was sold to the Pritzker family. The two Hyatt Hotel high-rises they built were slowly run into the ground and shuttered in 2003 and 2006. The golf courses developed bald patches.

When a judge ordered the warring Pritzker family to sell off assets, the Dorado Beach Resort was snagged in December 2007 by a consortium consisting of a silent investor, the New York–based Caribbean Property Group, and Prisa Group, a Puerto Rican property developer owned by the local Stubbe family. They now lord over the property dotted with 500 homes, four Robert Trent Jones Sr. -- designed golf courses and clubhouses, a quirky water park, gym, and beach club house.

Restored four-bedroom Su Casa hacienda to be had today for $30,000 a night.
Courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton

The Ritz-Carlton Reserve hotel cost $342 million to build, part of the consortium's $1.2 billion plan to resuscitate the tired resort. Developer Friedel Stubbe lives with his art-collector wife in a villa at the center of the resort, keeping an eye on things.

Eric Christensen, the property's Dartmouth-educated chief executive, was instrumental in building EuroDisney Resorts and has learned that the details count. When Penta toured Dorado Beach with Christensen, he was constantly making mental notes, such as to more closely examine the chemical properties of the "organic" mosquito spray silently and invisibly spritzing out of walls and hidden hoses. He tore down one of the ugly Hyatt tower hotels to build the Reserve; the other will come down soon, as the golf courses are renovated by the designer's son, Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Mi Casa, the restaurant beside the hotel's pool, is all sloping roof and glass, a 1950s retro look harkening back to the Rockefeller years. It will be the acclaimed chef José Andrés' first restaurant outside the U.S. mainland, and will blend the island's cocina criolla with the tastes of his native Spain. Expect the likes of mashed yucca stuffed with Iberico pork loin, and red snapper with papaya, avocado, and sweet potato. The bar will be populated with 30 varieties of rare rum.

Meanwhile, Jean-Michel Cousteau -- son of the late marine biologist Jacques Cousteau -- has designed an environmental education program and center that will allow residents to experience the area's coral reefs, wetlands, birds, and traditional culture of the Taino -- a pre-Columbian seafaring tribe that spread through the Caribbean. That means entire families will be able to have educational kayaking, hiking, and snorkeling adventures together, including exploring an on-site archaeological dig.

The hotel's grand slam: Spa Botánico, standing behind an 80-year-old heritage ficus. A temple-like building is filled with apothecary bottles of botanicals, natural oils, and fresh herbs. Local shamans known as Manos Santas (Holy Hands), some of whom are on the hotel's payroll, instruct assistants in how to pick herbs and extract oils to create ointments to soothe and placate the particular neurosis of each guest. Five acres of spa buildings, including the steam room, flow between the trunks of massive trees; some glass-encased massage rooms are located in their branches. A three-hour spa session of bespoke oil and massage will cost $650.

The Ritz-Carlton Reserve is, in short, a pretty stunning blend of old and new -- for folks with deep pockets. Su Casa, the villa that Clara Livingston built back in 1928, is also part of the hotel property. It has been lovingly restored as a four-bedroom hacienda, complete with gurgling courtyard fountain, private swimming pool, and smoker's porch. Its rooms are filled with Livington's antiques, including her Asia-inspired carved writing desk, and guests can even bathe outside in a giant tub placed on an upstairs veranda.

We dined at Su Casa, on lobster of course, the shells decorated with dots of dorado (gold). Was the villa for rent? "Of course," said manager Helbling. For $30,000 a night.